160813
by ishipJauren
Summary: Set after Friday's episode- I would have liked Joey to go after Lauren :) Was originally supposed to be a one shot but might make into two :) Hope you like it and let me know what you think!
1. Chapter 1

**One shot based after Fridays episosde which I LOVED! So proud of Lauren, they needed to be told and she really put them in their place! Hopefully now Joey will try and win her back instead of the other way round :)**

Wow. That felt good. Really good. The old Lauren wouldn't have done that. The old Lauren would have got shitfaced and then made some stupid comment about a 'jogging date' and embarrassed herself in front of everyone. New Lauren is way more grown-up and mature. Definitely more grown up than them two. Ergh. How dare they try and blame me for it? Like it was my fault! As if my not being there is an excuse for him to jump into bed with my best friend and for her to jump into bed with my ex. Lucy, I would have expected but Whitney, not so much. I knew she had a bit of a crush on him when he kissed her but I didn't think it lasted all this time and throughout my whole relationship with him. Why her, though? I mean, if he'd been missing me or whatever and he slept with some random girl, I'd have been okay with that. We weren't together and he's only human so I couldn't be angry with him. But my best friend. Ex-best friend now, that is. Were there no other girls in the whole of London? And he's got a bit of a nerve saying he was 'disappointed' in me. I'm disappointed too. I'm disappointed in both of them. Here I am going through this massive thing and trying my hardest to get better, and there they are sleeping with each other! I thought he'd changed. I thought maybe being with me and the intensity of our relationship had changed him. More fool me, ay? But I feel hugely relieved to have got that off my chest and had a go at them because in all honesty, they needed to hear it. I could have been a bit more hurtful, actually. Said something really nasty. Ha, counsellors are right, talking about stuff does make you feel better. Drinking isn't always the answer. Who'd have thought it ay, Lauren Branning, coming to that conclusion all by herself? I really have changed! The smile on my face doesn't stay there long though as I hear his voice behind me. Fuck. I stop in my tracks but don't turn around.

"Babe. Wait." He says, louder this time, catching up with me.

"Don't call me that. You don't get to call me that anymore." I say firmly, and I silently (in my head) applaud the absence of the tears I couldn't stop falling, just ten minutes earlier. With a tiny amount of pleasure, I note that Joey looks a bit pissed at my comment. Well, I'm pissed that he fucked my best friend. Shit happens. C'est la vie.

"Can we talk?" He asks.

"I don't really have anything left to say, but yeah, you can talk." I nod, reluctantly. He motions over at the bench a foot away from us and we sit down.

"What is it?" I ask when he doesn't say anything.

"I'm sorry. You have to know that. You know that, don't ya? I'm sorry. Like, really sorry and if I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it again." He shakes his head, urgently.

"Doesn't change nothing though, does it? It still happened." I shrug.

"I'm sorry that I was trying to excuse it by saying I didn't know if you were gonna come back or not because that's not an excuse at all and I know that. And I'm so sorry that you nearly drank vodka, because of me, again. But I'm so unbelievably proud of you for spitting it out. And I probably can't tell ya that either, can I? But I am. I'm dead proud of ya."

"I'm proud of me too. Everything is different now, Joey."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm done. I'm done with you. And you don't know how brilliant it is to finally be able to say that."

"You're not. We're not done. You know, I still-' He starts but I hold my hand up to stop him before he goes any further.

"Don't say it, I'm begging you, please do not say it. Or I might slap you."

"It didn't mean anything. You know you're the only girl who's ever meant anything to me."

"Funny way of showing it."

"I know. But it's true. You are."

"I don't know what's bought all this on, anyway. The best part of this week, you couldn't wait to get shot of me. Giving me stupid excuses about being busy at work. You clearly wanted me to leave you alone. So why don't you leave me alone now?"

"Cos I was feeling guilty as fuck. I didn't want you to find out, did I? When you went, it was like mental. One minute you're in the Vic trying to pour yourself a drink and I'm holding you back, and the next, Lucy tells me you're gone and we're probably never gonna see you again. Then she started kissing me and all I could think about was you. The day I found out you'd gone, I was gonna come round to see ya. Bring you flowers or something. I know I've messed up babe, but I just freaked out. I thought I was never gonna see you again and then it just hit me what a prick I've been. And I was like, fuck. I was missing ya, and I know how pathetic I sound right now, believe me, I know. But I was missing you and she was there. It could have been anyone."

"So why weren't it just anyone? Why her? You know, if it had been some random girl, I wouldn't have minded. It's not like we were together. But it's the fact that it was Whitney. How could you?"

"I regretted it as soon as it was over. Even during. I hate myself. This is just what I do. I fuck things up."

"Was she better than me?"

"Babe, please."

"Take that as a yes then."

"Course she fucking wasn't! No-one comes close to you. You were in my head all the time. I stupidly thought it'd make me feel better."

"And did it?"

"No, it didn't."

"But why her?"

"Because she was there."

"So, that's it? It's not gonna happen again? You're not gonna go out?"

"No! I told her to go before I came after you just now. I don't particularly wanna be friends with her. Like if you didn't want me to talk her, that wouldn't be a problem. It was just a stupid mistake that you were never supposed to find out about."

"You can talk to whoever you want. What are you actually sorry about? That it happened or that I know it happened?"

"That it happened. If I had a flying Delorean, I'd go back to that day and have a night in watching crappy films with Alice."

"Those chick flicks that we hate."

"Yeah, those. Do you remember when she'd always make us watch the one with the blonde bird who'd been a bridesmaid a load of times?"

"27 Dresses. Yeah, and she'd start crying and we'd be taking the piss and laughing at how Hollywood gives girls an unrealistic view of relationships."

"I miss it, if you can believe that?"

"I miss it, too."

"Did you think of me while you were gone?"

"Yeah, unfortunately I did."

"I really am sorry you know, Lauren. I wasn't thinking and I did something really stupid. If I believed, even for a second that I'd ever see you again or you'd give me another chance, I'd have followed you to wherever you was, begging you to see me. I thought I'd lost ya."

"I suppose we can be friends."

"I guess I'll have to settle for that."

"And by friends I mean, we're civil to each other if we bump into each other."

"And that's it?"

"That's it. I don't need you to be happy anymore. I meant what I said in there, you know. You're free to sleep with whoever you want, be it Whitney, Lucy, whoever you like. It really is nothing to do with me."

"I'm not gonna do that. You know that, don't ya?"

"I didn't imagine you'd do it the first time round, so I can't say I believe ya."

"You've gotta believe me. It definitely will never happen again, with either of 'em. With no-one. Unless you wanna take me back."

"You didn't believe me, did ya?"

"About what?"

"You serious? You've forgotten? The night you dumped me, Lucy spiked my drink. But you didn't believe me when I told you."

"Shit. Fuck. See, this is exactly what I mean. I fuck things up. I guess I just don't know her as well as you do; and it seemed more possible that you'd been drinking."

"Do you believe me now?"

"Yeah. Yes! After all the games she were playing like with asking me to go dinner when you were there with Peter and when she lied to your parents that you'd text her, and telling you that me and her were together. It all fit into place after that. I knew that if you had been drinking knowingly, eventually you'd have just admitted it to me cos you were always honest with me and now I know how sly she is. I'm sorry I didn't believe ya, babe."

"It's fine, I'll just add it to the list of all the times you've let me down."

"Fuck. Okay, I deserved that. Fucking hurts though." Joey winces, but I just shrug and he takes a deep breath.

"I know you can do better than me and I sure as hell don't deserve ya. But, call it your bad luck, misfortune or whatever, but you're it for me. I -, you know. I wanna say it but you might slap me. You know what I'm trying to say. So, you're kinda stuck with me cos I'm not gonna give up. You left once; there is no way I can let you do that again. Because, there's only one of you, Lauren Branning, and we'll never find what he had together, with other people. Cos we were supposed to be together." Joey gently tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Don't." I mumble, trying to stay strong and not let him affect me.

"'Cos the thing is, babe. I lo-' he starts to say it again but I clamp my hand over his mouth because I don't want to hear him say it. I can't hear him say it.

His voice is muffled against my hand, but he manages to get it out, loud and clear:

"'Cos I love ya."

**A/N- On my main story, the next chapter is already written and will be posted either tomorrow or Monday as soon as I've edited and the chapter after that is very nearly written so should also be up sometime during next week :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- This was supposed to be a one shot but then decided to turn into a two-parter. Thanks for the suggestion lozxtitchx! :) Thank you for all the elovely reviews and thanks to the guest reviewers who I couldn't reply to. I appreciate all the nice comments, thank you! I'm glad everyone liked it and hope you enjoy this last part just as much :)**

Without a word, I turn away from him and angrily storm off. How dare he? How fucking dare he? He has no right to sleep with my best friend and then tell he loves me!

"Babe, wait! Don't go." He runs to catch up with me and grabs me by my arm.

"Let go of me." I snap through gritted teeth.

"Babe, I'm sorry. I don't love you, I don't. I just think you're alright." He jokes, making me even angrier.

"Here's what I think of you." I slap him across the face, hard. My hand connects with his skin so powerfully that my hand begins to sting. He steps back, reeling from the shock as well as the pain. Once again, I turn my back to him and march into my house with a gigantic smile on my face. That felt even better!

"What are you grinning about?" Dad peers at me, amused.

"I just slapped Joey." I smirk, struggling not to burst out laughing. I've never done anything to experience it before so I'm guessing this is what an adrenaline rush feels like!

"You did what?" Dad splutters, shocked.

"He was asking for it." I decide not to go into the details of Joey's indiscretions.

"He's had it a long time coming." Dad agrees, looking at me proudly. I'm stopped before I can reply by a knock on the door and armed with both my new found adrenaline and the strength in my right hand, I go to answer the door.

"Has he come for some more?" Dad jokes, as I open the door to Whitney. Before I can shut it right back again, she wedges her foot in the doorway.

"What do you want?" I snap, brusquely.

"I am really sorry, Lauren." She says, unable to meet my eyes.

"Okay. Bye." Again I try to shut the door and again she stops me.

"I remember when you kissed Tyler and how much that hurt me. But what I've done to you is a lot worse and I'm just so angry at myself. I'm disgusting. I'm really sorry, Lauren." She tells me, and I know she means it.

"Like I said to Joey, he can sleep with whoever he wants."

"He was really missing ya, Lauren. No-one told him that you'd gone, no-one knew. He had to hear it from Lucy. One minute you were here and the next you wasn't. He was gutted; really. He thought he'd lost ya."

"You seem to know a lot about him. You're welcome to him, Whitney."

"I don't want him. And he doesn't want me. It was just a stupid mistake."

"So you were just comforting each other?"

"Yeah, something like that. We were both upset and it just happened."

"In that case, he could do with some comforting right now because I've hurt him, again. I really am a bitch, aren't I? I made my best friend and ex-boyfriend sleep with each other because I selfishly went into rehab! So maybe you can go make him feel better again; accidentally drop your knickers." I tell her and this time successfully slam the door in her face. Hmm, that really was satisfying!

Later that night, as I'm dozing off, my phone buzzes signalling a text message. Inwardly groaning, I blearily reach for it. It's from Joey. I thought I'd seen him off!

_'Come outside, please. I'm at the front door.'_

I snort derisively and crawl back under the covers. He can whistle, can't he!

(5 minutes later.)

"What?" I snap at him.

He doesn't say anything and just looks at me.

"Look, Joey. You've got what you wanted, alright? 'You need to focus on your recovery, Lauren' you said. Well, that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I don't want to get back together with you. I don't really wanna be friends with you, either. In fact, I'm struggling with just looking at you, right now. So, let's just pretend I'm still in the clinic and you can carry on sleeping with my friends like you did when I wasn't here. And by the way, you don't get to do what you did and then tell me you love me. It doesn't work like that. I don't want your love and I don't want you; I'm better off out of it. Thanks for stopping by." I finish, pretty pleased with myself. And then completely unexpectedly, he holds my face gently in his hands and lands his mouth on mine.


	3. Chapter 3

I shove Joey away from me with all the strength I can muster, moving out of his reach.

"Don't do that!" I snap, angrily at him, still reeling from the shock of his kiss.

"I'm sorry, alright. I just, couldn't help it." He shrugs.

"Shut up."

"Seriously, I couldn't."

"Shut up, Joey, I'm not joking."

"In fact, I really wanna do it again."

"Stop talking or I'll scream, then my Dad will find out you're here and possibly break your legs when I tell him what you just did."

"I'll stop talking."

"Look, Joey. You think you can kiss me and everything will be okay again? You can't kiss me, full stop. Not anymore. Everything won't be okay and we can't go back to the way it was because you slept with my best friend. And I know we weren't together but she's still my best friend. Every time I see either of you I just get a disturbing image of yous two kissing and stuff. When you kissed me just now, all I could think was 'he slept with Whit, he slept with Whit.' I thought about you all the time, when I was in the clinic and I wanted us to get back together so much. I had this stupid daydream that it'd be just like those films we always laugh at. I'd come back and you'd be waiting with your arms outstretched. You'd have missed me as much as I missed you and you'd realise that you never stopped loving me. But life isn't a film and you aren't that same person to me anymore. I never thought you'd do this to me, but you have and I feel different now." I sigh, taking a deep breath.

"So, you don't love me anymore?"

"It's not as simple as that, is it? My Mum loves my Dad and look where they are now. His wife is up there in my Mum's bed and Mum is miles away with Oscar. Love just messes with your head and people always get hurt and I can't be doing with that."

"Lauren, babe, please."

"Please, what? What do you want from me?"

"Just give me a chance. I'm really sorry about what happened; I know I'm a shit person and it was an awful thing to do. I wasn't thinking; if I had been it would never have happened. Just tell me you know how sorry I am."

"I know you're sorry, Joe. I only wish that changed things but it doesn't."

"Can't we make a go of things?"  
"I need to be by myself."

"What if you were by yourself, but with me?"

"Haha. Not two days ago, you were telling me there was no rush and we should take things slowly. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I was wrong."

"Did Joseph Branning just say he was wrong?!"

"It's rare that I am wrong but admittedly, I should never have said that."

"Joey, you were right. We shouldn't get back together. In fact, I'd really appreciate it if we could just stay out of each other's way."

"We can't even be friends?"

"Were we ever friends?"

"Yeah, course!"

"When, exactly?"

"When we did that advertising thing for you Dad."

"For like a week. During which I slapped you, almost twice."

"Aww so today was like the old days, ay?"

"Can't live in the past, Joe."

"I really want us to be friends."

"It's too hard. I can't do it."

"Never? We can never be friends?"

"I don't know. All I'm saying is for right now, I can't be friends with you."

"Can I at least come round tomorrow? I got you something, you know, before. I wanna give it to ya."

"You shouldn't have."

"Well, I did. It's really stupid, it's nothing really. I just wanna give it to ya. Please."

"If you really want to, but you don't have to give me nothing."

"I need to do a lot more than that, babe."

"You should probably go. I'm really tired." I stifle a yawn as I say the words.

"Yeah. And look, I'm sorry I kissed ya. Well, I'm not but I'm sorry it happened the way it did and I shouldn't have presumed that I could kiss you just cos I felt like it."

"Thank you."

"A hug? For old times' sake?" Joey asks, hopefully. Fuck it, might as well. I nod slowly and he pulls me into his arms. I sink into his hold, possibly for the last time. He kisses the top of my head, trying to prolong the hug as much as he can. I force myself to pull away from him. As he leaves the house, I consider how I'll go about getting used to my life without Joey in it. What kept me going in the clinic was knowing I was coming back here; coming back to him. But it's funny how life works out, in't it?


End file.
